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Do IT this week: Layering
By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal popular culture writer
POSTED: 03:16 p.m. EST, Feb 25, 2009
This must be the mailbag . . .
Question: What ever became of the man that played Frasier's brother? I have not seen him in other TV programs or movies. I thought he was funny with all of his quirks. Also, what happened to the rest of the cast?
Answer: David Hyde Pierce, who played the fussy and funny Niles Crane opposite Kelsey Grammer's Frasier, has been busy on Broadway in recent years. He won a Tony award for his performance in Curtains and was in Spamalot. Lately he has been helping prepare a revival of the comedy Accent on Youth, due to open in April, a few days after Pierce's 50th birthday.
Q: I recently saw a dance scene with Fred Astaire and Eleanor Parker that is reputedly one of the best dance sequences ever. I didn't catch the movie title. Can you help?
A: That was not Cedarville, Ohio, native Eleanor Parker you saw, but dancer-actress Eleanor Powell. She paired with Astaire for a fondly remembered tap-dance number to Begin the Beguine in the movie Broadway Melody of 1940; it was also showcased — with introduction by Frank Sinatra — in the compilation That's Entertainment.
Q: I am a longtime fan of the wonderful West Wing series. Which episode of what season did Rob Lowe leave the show? He was one of its best actors, but I believe at the time it was rumored that he was fired. If so, do you know when and why it happened?
A: Lowe, who played Sam Seaborn on The West Wing, left under his own power. Reports at the time said money was an issue, but Lowe indicated he was unhappy with his place in the award-winning series.
''I found that Sam was having less and less to do with the stories on the show that were really important,'' he said some time after his departure. ''I had a storyline once where I was trying to get people to wear seat belts. It was hilarious . . . but I wanted Sam to have the president's ear. I wanted Sam to be involved in the big storylines, not just shuffled in and out.''
His last season as a regular cast member was 2002-03, the fourth of the show's seven seasons; he returned for a couple of episodes when the series wrapped up in 2006. His last episode was ''Red Haven's on Fire,'' which aired in February 2003.
Q: I saw this movie on television many years ago. It was a love story with Robert Stack of The Untouchables and Deanne Dublin. (I can't remember her name exactly.) Robert Stack was young, handsome and blond in this movie. I loved it! Never finished watching it. I would love to see it again. Was it named First Love?
A: There is indeed a movie called First Love with Robert Stack and Deanna Durbin. Made in 1939, it was the 20-year-old Stack's first movie and made headlines because Stack gave Durbin her first screen kiss. It has been released on DVD as part of a ''Deanna Durbin Sweetheart Pack'' of six Durbin films; there was also a VHS release, so you may be able to find old copies in that format.
Q: Years ago I used to watch Silk Stalkings with Rob Estes, and I believe the medical examiner on the show was Danny Gans, who is a well-known performer in Las Vegas. Am I right?
A: Impressionist and Las Vegas star Danny Gans did play Roger the morgue attendant on Silk Stalkings during its 1991-92 season.
Do you have a question or comment about movies, TV and other popular culture? Write to rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com or the Akron Beacon Journal, 44 E. Exchange St., Akron, OH 44309. Please mark the note for Mailbag and do not phone in questions.
Letters may be edited. Individual replies cannot be guaranteed.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal and in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com.
This must be the mailbag . . .
Question: What ever became of the man that played Frasier's brother? I have not seen him in other TV programs or movies. I thought he was funny with all of his quirks. Also, what happened to the rest of the cast?
Answer: David Hyde Pierce, who played the fussy and funny Niles Crane opposite Kelsey Grammer's Frasier, has been busy on Broadway in recent years. He won a Tony award for his performance in Curtains and was in Spamalot. Lately he has been helping prepare a revival of the comedy Accent on Youth, due to open in April, a few days after Pierce's 50th birthday.
Q: I recently saw a dance scene with Fred Astaire and Eleanor Parker that is reputedly one of the best dance sequences ever. I didn't catch the movie title. Can you help?
A: That was not Cedarville, Ohio, native Eleanor Parker you saw, but dancer-actress Eleanor Powell. She paired with Astaire for a fondly remembered tap-dance number to Begin the Beguine in the movie Broadway Melody of 1940; it was also showcased — with introduction by Frank Sinatra — in the compilation That's Entertainment.
Q: I am a longtime fan of the wonderful West Wing series. Which episode of what season did Rob Lowe leave the show? He was one of its best actors, but I believe at the time it was rumored that he was fired. If so, do you know when and why it happened?
A: Lowe, who played Sam Seaborn on The West Wing, left under his own power. Reports at the time said money was an issue, but Lowe indicated he was unhappy with his place in the award-winning series.
''I found that Sam was having less and less to do with the stories on the show that were really important,'' he said some time after his departure. ''I had a storyline once where I was trying to get people to wear seat belts. It was hilarious . . . but I wanted Sam to have the president's ear. I wanted Sam to be involved in the big storylines, not just shuffled in and out.''
His last season as a regular cast member was 2002-03, the fourth of the show's seven seasons; he returned for a couple of episodes when the series wrapped up in 2006. His last episode was ''Red Haven's on Fire,'' which aired in February 2003.
Q: I saw this movie on television many years ago. It was a love story with Robert Stack of The Untouchables and Deanne Dublin. (I can't remember her name exactly.) Robert Stack was young, handsome and blond in this movie. I loved it! Never finished watching it. I would love to see it again. Was it named First Love?
A: There is indeed a movie called First Love with Robert Stack and Deanna Durbin. Made in 1939, it was the 20-year-old Stack's first movie and made headlines because Stack gave Durbin her first screen kiss. It has been released on DVD as part of a ''Deanna Durbin Sweetheart Pack'' of six Durbin films; there was also a VHS release, so you may be able to find old copies in that format.
Q: Years ago I used to watch Silk Stalkings with Rob Estes, and I believe the medical examiner on the show was Danny Gans, who is a well-known performer in Las Vegas. Am I right?
A: Impressionist and Las Vegas star Danny Gans did play Roger the morgue attendant on Silk Stalkings during its 1991-92 season.
Do you have a question or comment about movies, TV and other popular culture? Write to rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com or the Akron Beacon Journal, 44 E. Exchange St., Akron, OH 44309. Please mark the note for Mailbag and do not phone in questions.
Letters may be edited. Individual replies cannot be guaranteed.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal and in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com.
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